GOING HOME: Boots gives up life in the 'break room' for a loving home

FORT PIERCE - It's a fact that most stray cats love Dogs & Cats Forever. It's also a fact that most housecats don't.

When a stray arrives at Dogs & Cats, it suddenly has everything it always wanted -- wet and dry food served daily, climate-controlled accommodations, and a safe bird-watching spot on a screened porch.

Conversely, when a housecat arrives at Dogs & Cats, it has probably just lost everything it ever had-namely, a home and a loving family.

Without a doubt, Boots was a housecat who hated shelter life.

Boots' owner had died, and she and her housemate, Patches, were brought to the shelter. Within a matter of days, Patches was adopted, but Boots became depressed and stopped eating.

Boots shunned cat food, but she had an affinity for human food, especially chicken. To avoid other animals, she lived in the break room, eating on the windowsill, drinking from the faucet in the sink and napping in the stacks of clean laundry stored there. When the public came to look at cats, however, Boots was usually nowhere to be seen.

Shortly before Christmas, June Sybert was dropping off donations at the shelter. "I was really impressed with the cleanliness of the place," said Sybert, whose beloved cat, Callie, had passed away in 2011. She asked to see a declawed cat, but Boots, who was asleep in the laundry, didn't come out.

Fortunately, Sybert was not dissuaded. She and her husband Loyd returned to meet Boots. "We both fell head over heels in love with her," said Sybert who brought her home the day after Christmas.

At home, Sybert said that Boots has tried out every chair but prefers the living room sofa where she can glance out of the picture window. She reported that Boots eats her cat food well, and now has her own water fountain. "She took over our house just as if she had lived here all of her life," said Sybert.

Sybert said that she didn't change Boots' name "simply because I have never had a cat that answered to its name." No matter, however. Boots is a happy housecat again in what Sybert called "a good match for her and us."

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